Page 32 - Holyland Magazine - 2015 edition
P. 32
In Memory of Dr. James E. Ridgway, Sr.
October 9, 1932 – February 27, 2014
Dr. Ridgway devoted his whole life to
the Holy Land and Christian travel. He
founded Educational Opportunities Tours
in 1974 to help carry out his vision to help
Christian leaders be changed and inspired
by faith-based travel. As a result, he touched
hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.
He was known for his passion, leadership,
compassion and friendship. Dr. Ridgway
EVANGELICALS AND THE LAND OF THE BIBLE: enjoyed personally caring for the guests of
EO Tours and the vendors, guides, hospitality
A LONG STORY staff and other travel suppliers in the Holy
Land. He received numerous awards for his
humanitarian efforts and work to strengthen
the churches from Israel and the Vatican,
Since the 19th century, Evangelical Christians have supported
Bethlehem. Everyone at EO Tours is proud to
and visited the Holy Land in large numbers and was also made an honorary citizen of
carry on his legacy in Christian travel to the
Holy Land.
By: Simon Campbell
C ever since the 4th century. For close to reunited, that Mark Twain came to visit and world.
hristians have been coming to Israel a divided city of Jerusalem was tumultuously tolerance and plurality that are the envy of the
two millennia, visiting the Land of the ignited a fascination for Israel amongst
Since the modern State of Israel was founded
Bible has played a prominent role in Evangelical Christians. Yet, Twain was
shocked by what he found and described in in 1948, some 8 million American Christians
Christian dreams and spirituality.
The Innocents Abroad:
It was in the 19th-century that American - a large majority of whom are Evangelical
Christians - have come to visit the Land of
Evangelical Christians started to come to the “ ...[a] desolate country whose soil is rich the Bible. They come to show support for
land of Israel to visit the places associated enough, but is given over wholly to weeds modern Israel, but they come mostly to
with the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Many came - a silent mournful expanse. A desolation is immerse themselves in the land that was
to stay. They built “American colonies” in both here that not even imagination can grace known to prophets, judges and disciples.
Jerusalem and in the port city of Jafa; indeed with the pomp of life and action. We never Visiting the Land of the Bible adds a spiritual
the original American colony founded in dimension to the practice of Christianity,
saw a human being on the whole route,
Jerusalem by the Spaford family of Chicago there was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. say many Evangelicals, transforming the
would eventually evolve into the American Even the olive and the cactus, those fast pages of the Bible into real places and real
Colony Hotel, to this day, one of the city’s friends of the worthless soil, had almost experiences, enabling the traveler to walk in
most legendary. deserted the country.” the footsteps of Jesus, and to see the same
landscapes and walk the same paths as He
One of the great 19th-century visitors to Israel In the century and a half since Twain came to did 2,000 years ago. Evangelical Christians
was the British writer, A.W. Kinglake, whose call, the land of Israel has become no longer invariably attest to feeling renewed after
Eothen published in 1844 and describing his a place of desolation, a land transformed into visiting Israel, confessing to a whole new
visit, became a best seller on both sides of the a western-style democracy, with standards of relationship with the Bible, their church and
Atlantic. But it was in 1867, a century before agriculture, medicine, technology, education, their community.
32
October 9, 1932 – February 27, 2014
Dr. Ridgway devoted his whole life to
the Holy Land and Christian travel. He
founded Educational Opportunities Tours
in 1974 to help carry out his vision to help
Christian leaders be changed and inspired
by faith-based travel. As a result, he touched
hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.
He was known for his passion, leadership,
compassion and friendship. Dr. Ridgway
EVANGELICALS AND THE LAND OF THE BIBLE: enjoyed personally caring for the guests of
EO Tours and the vendors, guides, hospitality
A LONG STORY staff and other travel suppliers in the Holy
Land. He received numerous awards for his
humanitarian efforts and work to strengthen
the churches from Israel and the Vatican,
Since the 19th century, Evangelical Christians have supported
Bethlehem. Everyone at EO Tours is proud to
and visited the Holy Land in large numbers and was also made an honorary citizen of
carry on his legacy in Christian travel to the
Holy Land.
By: Simon Campbell
C ever since the 4th century. For close to reunited, that Mark Twain came to visit and world.
hristians have been coming to Israel a divided city of Jerusalem was tumultuously tolerance and plurality that are the envy of the
two millennia, visiting the Land of the ignited a fascination for Israel amongst
Since the modern State of Israel was founded
Bible has played a prominent role in Evangelical Christians. Yet, Twain was
shocked by what he found and described in in 1948, some 8 million American Christians
Christian dreams and spirituality.
The Innocents Abroad:
It was in the 19th-century that American - a large majority of whom are Evangelical
Christians - have come to visit the Land of
Evangelical Christians started to come to the “ ...[a] desolate country whose soil is rich the Bible. They come to show support for
land of Israel to visit the places associated enough, but is given over wholly to weeds modern Israel, but they come mostly to
with the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Many came - a silent mournful expanse. A desolation is immerse themselves in the land that was
to stay. They built “American colonies” in both here that not even imagination can grace known to prophets, judges and disciples.
Jerusalem and in the port city of Jafa; indeed with the pomp of life and action. We never Visiting the Land of the Bible adds a spiritual
the original American colony founded in dimension to the practice of Christianity,
saw a human being on the whole route,
Jerusalem by the Spaford family of Chicago there was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. say many Evangelicals, transforming the
would eventually evolve into the American Even the olive and the cactus, those fast pages of the Bible into real places and real
Colony Hotel, to this day, one of the city’s friends of the worthless soil, had almost experiences, enabling the traveler to walk in
most legendary. deserted the country.” the footsteps of Jesus, and to see the same
landscapes and walk the same paths as He
One of the great 19th-century visitors to Israel In the century and a half since Twain came to did 2,000 years ago. Evangelical Christians
was the British writer, A.W. Kinglake, whose call, the land of Israel has become no longer invariably attest to feeling renewed after
Eothen published in 1844 and describing his a place of desolation, a land transformed into visiting Israel, confessing to a whole new
visit, became a best seller on both sides of the a western-style democracy, with standards of relationship with the Bible, their church and
Atlantic. But it was in 1867, a century before agriculture, medicine, technology, education, their community.
32
